Sekkei No Heart! Shinko Tragedy. Chapter V By Ardan King.
Chapter Five - Oh loyal follower.
After seeing the condition his painting was in, Shouta stopped cleaning and demanded Hakan come look at the paining. She was just as shocked.
"Did you throw a fit or something!?" Hakan jerked her head back to yell at Shouta.
"What the hell, who'd you piss off enough to do something like this?" Hakan rubbed the side of her head.
She picked the painting up from the floor. She looked it over as she set it back up on the easel. What a shame, I know Shouta has a rough tongue but for someone to do something like this is just ruthless, Hakan thought to herself, biting down on her bottom lip.
The amount of time she knew Shouta spent on this painting made it all the worse. Not many people outside of his class knew about the painting and just about everyone in his class didn't mind Shouta. No one at Watanabe Academy would do something like this, because everyone worked so hard on their own trade they understand how devastating it would be to have something like this happen to them.
"Who all knows about this from Saotome?" Hakan shook herself from her thoughts and turned to the shorter boy.
"I don't know, just the group that you hang out with at lunch every day." Shouta kept his eyes directly on the color splashed painting.
"And only Jinguji-san and Ichinose-san have seen it in person." Shouta looked to Hakan who had a shocked look on her face.
He raised his eyebrow knowing she had a thought.
"You know Ren's not that kind of guy, he just likes to play around with you because of the whole thing when you first met…" Hakan trailed off.
Her first thought was of Ren getting back at Shouta for insulting him. She didn't know Ren very well but he didn't seem like that kind of guy.
Shouta narrowed his eyes at her; even he didn't think that Ren would do something like this. Without another word spoken from Shouta, the small framed boy dashed out of the room. He refused to wait another minute before confronting Ren.
The anger tossed around his insides, the painting wasn't anything great but knowing that it was for his mother made it special to him.
He looked at the time on his phone as he practically dashed through the hall. The Saotome students should have started entering the school by then. Shouta's usual monotone expression was churned into anger and disgust.
Minutes later Shouta found his way to the front of the school, students wandering in and out of the school. Knowing the easiest way to find the playboy was to spot the hordes of cackling girls, he kept his eyes out for the group. He pushed his way through various students, desperately looking for Ren.
Nanami was just getting to school with Otoya and Tokiya; reluctantly walking together they noticed the heated boy. Nanami waved but Shouta hadn't noticed her.
He stopped mid-step and panted from dashing through the scattered groups of students. He looked around thinking that the other could have gone inside, when he spotted golden hair falling to the person shoulders from behind.
"Jinguji!" Shouta called out.
Several students stopped while walking and looked at the dark haired boy. The person turned their head, Shouta's assumption was correct. Ren smiled, he raised his hand and waved at the boy.
Shouta narrowed his eyes and stomped a path to Ren. All the older boy's female followers scattered behind him, as if cautious of the younger boy.
"Well Shou-chan, isn't this a surprise. You've never called me out like this." He set his hands on his waist, his smile twisted into a mischievous smirk.
Shouta ignored the other's words and looked for the right words. The anger stirred him up, causing him to have a hard time filtering his words.
"My painting!"
Ren just tilted his head. He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side to laugh.
"What about it?" Ren kept his head turned to the side but his now opened eyes were looking directly into Shouta's.
"I get that you hate me for whatever, but why did you have to ruin the painting I did for my mom? How am I supposed to repair what you did to it?" Shouta's voice got lower with each word, as if the situation had finally sunk in.
The anger has been replaced with a broken sensation. "How will I show my mother…?" He trailed off.
Ren had never seen the boy with such a look. The older boy's lip twitched.
"What are you talking about? Why would I waste my time messing with one of your paintings? You probably pissed someone else off." Ren turned his face forward and shrugged.
Ren usually came off as a frivolous flirt, but there were moments when he was heartless and cold. Of course the smirk never left his lips, which made his words all the more cold.
"Besides your mom probab-"Ren had started but was cut off by Shouta who had pulled his fist back and threw it into the older student's cheek.
It was so unexpected that Ren didn't have time to stop him. Shouta usually walked away but his temper was already on fire that it only took Ren's condescending words to set him off.
Before Shouta could swing at him again, Tokiya who along with Nanami and Otoya had seen the commotion grabbed Shouta's wrists. Ren set his hand on the lower part of his cheek where it stung from Shouta's punch.
The altercation had attracted a crowd of students. Tokiya looked around, he knew that at least one student had to of gone to get a teacher by now. Without saying a word to either Shouta or Ren, he started dragging the younger one away.
Shouta struggled to get free but Tokiya pulled him close.
"The Jinguji family is very well connected, while I know for a fact you're here on a scholarship. You don't want this fight." Tokiya's face was stern.
He didn't know Shouta very well but saw his potential and if he got kicked out he might lose his chance to shine. Shouta stopped struggling and let the dark haired singer guide him to a more secluded spot.
While the two escaped, Ren churned in anger. His condescending smirk had disappeared along with all the easy going feelings for Shouta. He'd never been hit like that before.
The girls around him showered him with gasps and questions of concern. Everything sounded like muffled babbling to Ren at this moment as he watched the two disappear.
Without a word he started walking towards the school, the golden haired man was going to find out what Shouta was talking about.
It didn't take long before he ran into Hakan, who was frantically looking for the pissed off Shouta. He stopped a few feet in front of her, even though it wasn't his problem he still felt like he had to see what had happened.
"Y-You haven't run into Shouta, have you?" She held the palm of her hand against her chest as she gasped for air.
"As a matter a fact I have, he gave me a nice little present too." Ren turned his head and pointed to the swelling red mark on the bottom of his cheek.
Hakan winced; she knew that if Shouta got to Ren first that there would be violence. Before opening her mouth again, she looked around.
"If he already found you, where is he?" Hakan's face started turning into an alarmed expression again.
"Ichi swept in and saved the kid before anyone could get to him." Ren shrugged.
"So, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you didn't fuck up Shouta's painting and your just now learning of it." Hakan swallowed the words as she rubbed the upper part of her arms.
Ren suddenly started getting annoyed as she mentioned the painting. He was sure it had to be the painting Tokiya and Him has seen the previous day.
"Of course not, I don't do petty things. The only reason I'm up here is to see what I got hit over." Ren brushed past the girl.
Without waiting for Hakan to say another word, he quickened his speed.
What an irritating situation, what a stupid kid to accuse me over anyone else. Why would I spend a second doing something like that over nothing. The thoughts jumped around in the singer's head as he made his way to the classroom that the painting was found in.
The door was cracked, he lightly pushed the door opened to enter. The room looked the same as it did yesterday. Although all the paintbrushes that were on the counter and in the sink where scattered on the floor.
It only took mere moments for him to see the painting. From the door frame he could see the splattered green and yellow paint.
His heart sank as he moved forward. Before seeing what had become of the boys painting, he assumed that everyone was making a bigger deal of things than needed but being face to face with it had a bigger impact on Ren.
"Jeez…" Slipped from Ren's mouth as he picked the canvas up with both hands.
He could only see tiny traces of the mesmerizing painting he witnessed yesterday. Whoever did this have to of done this last night before the school closed up. The paint is practically dry. Ren just bit his bottom lip and shook his head. A sharp anger rushed over him.
"All the time that kid spent on this, all gone over what!? Some petty grudge someone held." Ren hissed under his breathe.
From behind him he heard the floor creak. He jerked his head to see a few of his devoted fans. He did his best to put his same old Casanova smile on for them but his disappointment could easily be seen through it.
"Like what we did?" The head of the group spoke up, her hair was a light shade of hazel and her eyes matched.
To any man she would be a good catch. Ren raised an eyebrow. The other two just smiled along with her.
"What do you mean, Beautiful?" He moved closer and slid his fingers through her long straight hair.
It was softy to the touch, so well taken care of along with her skin and body. Ren had never noticed this girl. He mentally slapped himself, she was quite a beauty.
"That ugly little punk disrespected you and treated you like a fool. We wanted to get back at him for treating you like that, but he didn't seem to care about anything. So when we heard you talking with him about this stupid painting, we knew it would be perfect. Guess we'll have to do worse since he marked your flawless face, Ren-kun." The beauty spoke as if she had done something good.
The group had barely moved into the room, so as she talked she adjusted herself against the wall. Ren watched her smile grow as he took in what he was just told. He could easily brush off everything Shouta said, so why would they do something like this.
Ren instantly knew what had happened. His stomach churned as his name rolled off her tongue. He moved closer to her and set his hand on the wall next to her head. He leaned in close to her, his breathe against her ear.
"You did this?" He whispered with a sly voice.
He could feel her body shiver as his words escaped his lips and entered her ear. His breath caused her perfect hair to move.
"Yes, all for you and we'll keep doing it until he leaves you alone." She almost jumped at the chance to suck up to Ren.
The golden haired man pushed himself away from the wall, he turned away. The girls just watched him; he slowly stepped towards the counter and picked up the green bottle of paint.
"Allow me to do you all a favor." He turned around while turning the cap off.
In the blink of an eye he slung the paint a crossed the group of three girls. He covered their hair, faces and uniforms in green paint.
"If you had any confidence in me, then you'd let me fight my own battles. Petty girls like you make me sick." Ren dropped the bottle out of his hands.
He couldn't stand to look at their shocked faces any longer. He moved past the girls without as much as a look back.
"Grow up." Were the only words he left the girls with.
He tightened his fists as he moved down the hall. Shouta was just a bystander that got in the way of the older man's catty fan girls. If they weren't terrorizing each other, they were messing with others who even looked in Ren's direction wrong.
The older man chuckled as he remembered Shouta's face the first day he met him. What a gaze, once he got older and grew into his body, Shouta could scare someone right to the core.
